In today’s society it is common, to say the least, to have a single parent household. Most of the time the parents are divorced or simply not together and one of the parents is less hands on than the other. Perhaps this is a because of distance, as the other parent may live quite some distance away or perhaps due to work obligations and can only physically parent a month or two out of the year. Then there are truly single parents insofar as the other parent has passed away or perhaps the other parent is just not in the picture for any number of reasons or there is a history of domestic violence and the other parent’s custodial rights are extremely curtailed.
For this population, their will serves not only to memorialize how they want their possessions and property to be disposed of, it also allows for them to indicate who they want to take custody of their children. To be sure, if the other parent is named as the father/mother to the child and the primary custodian passes away, the other parent has the legal authority to take custody, absent good cause. There are, however, other ways of addressing these concerns outside of the four corners of the primary custodians will. Enter the standby guardianship which was specifically designed in response to such situations.
SUPERIOR TO CUSTODY ORDER